In the first two segments, we discussed gift-giving and holiday spending for Thanksgiving the previous year through the end of May. We also talked about holidays that weren’t gift-giving ones, but still resulted in overspending and unplanned spending on those days. In this week’s edition, we’ll look at the remainder of the year and how the threat is ongoing all year long.

In June you have Father’s Day, along with the possibility of graduations and weddings. While weddings occur throughout the year, June is one of the more popular months for them. The amount spent on Father’s Day generally tends to be less than that spent on Mother’s Day, it still can be an area where impulse takes precedent over the budget. Graduations, on the other hand, can wreck the budget when they’re not planned for or there are several in a given year.

The Forth of July marks our next celebratory holiday with parties, parades, firework events, and traveling. Jessica Dickler wrote in CNBC’s article This Fourth of July, Americans will shell out $1 billion on beer Published Tue, Jul 2 20198:45 AM EDT Updated Tue, Jul 2 20199:59 AM EDT¹², Americans will spend $6.7 billion on cookouts and other celebrations of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. All in, that comes out to about $73 per person, a number that has declined slightly in recent years.

August doesn’t have any traditional holidays, but for parents with school-age children, “Back To School” shopping becomes the next spending event. According to the National Retail Federation’s article Back-to-School 2020 ¹³, parents with children in elementary school through high school say they plan to spend an average of $789.49 per family, topping the previous record of $696.70 they said they would spend last year.

Labor Day is the next holiday on the calendar where we celebrate in some fashion since it’s also referred to as the unofficial last day of summer. Because of that designation, many families either hold a party or take a trip for one last hurrah before the doldrums of school, work, cooler days come upon us. Daniel Kline writes in his article from 2018 for The Motley Fool entitled “How Much Will You Spend on Labor Day Weekend?”¹⁴, travel increased by at least 30% and personal spending was approximately $80.

October gives us Columbus Day and Halloween. While Columbus Day isn’t a gift-giving holiday, many people spend much more money than they plan on the sales associated with it. Since Halloween is the second most decorated annual event many people get carried away with how much they spend on decorating, costumes, candy, etc. Even if pre-planning is done these days, too many people buy impulsively and overspend.

November has Veteran’s Day and like MLK Day and Columbus Day, spending is often planned, but not budgeted for prior to those days. November also has Thanksgiving Day, but we discussed that in the previous segment.

Throughout this series of articles, we covered the various holidays and some of the gift-giving events of the year. However, we didn’t talk much about birthdays and weddings. The reason we waited until the end of this article is that weddings and birthdays are not specific to any one month. June is indeed the “wedding month”, but again not everyone wants that “June” wedding.

Since weddings and birthdays occur throughout the year, we can plan for them in a particular month’s budget, but creating a Sinking Fund for these events that we contribute to each month during the year can have less of an impact on the month those events fall.

A Sinking Fund can also be beneficial for all of your holiday and gift-giving expenses, except for those holidays that people typically celebrate by primarily shopping the respective sales for that day. You can still use a Sinking Fund for those holidays, but more advanced planning would be necessary for it to be efficient and effective.

Thank you for reading this week’s post. I hope you found it beneficial and thought-provoking. I also hope that it has prompted you to change your perspective about gift-giving and holiday spending. Giving gifts and enjoying the holidays doesn’t need to wreck your financial future, nor contribute your income to creditors and banks through payments and fees.

To help you change your habits and plans for 2021, I am offering a Gift & Holiday Spending Worksheet so you can intentionally plan the whole year and have your budget and money ready before they occur. That way there’s no reason to resort to whipping out the charge card or having to forgo participating in them or paying for necessary expenses. For your free copy of the Gift & Holiday Spending Worksheet, please enter your email in the Comments section and I’ll forward it to you.

I hope today’s blog was encouraging to you and provided information to help you and others better handle their financial matters. My purpose through these blogs is to inform the reader about money and financial issues so that we all can become better managers of our assets. If you like what you read, make sure to sign up so you can receive my weekly posts. The goal of Take Two Financial Coaching is to provide the necessary information to help families and individuals break the chains of debt, build lasting wealth, and become outrageously generous so they can live the life they were created to live..

For those who are tired of being in the rat race or just want to better manage what they earn, I am available to have a Free 60 Minute Conversation to discuss your situation and how I can help you change your perspective it so you’re able to realize the life you’ve longed for. Go to my calendar at https://ramseycoach.com/taketwofinancialcoaching to arrange a time that works for you. You can also email me at taketwofinancialcoaching@gmail.

Credits

¹² https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/01/this-fourth-of-july-americans-will-shell-out-6point7-billion.html

¹³ https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/back-to-school

¹⁴ https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/08/29/how-much-will-you-spend-on-labor-day-weekend.aspx